China’s Zhechen Rubber to produce SBR 1500 and 1712 in March

27 February 2013 08:27[Source: ICIS news]

SINGAPORE (ICIS)--China’s Hangzhou Zhechen Rubber plans to switch to producing non-oil grade SBR 1500 at one of its two 50,000 tonne/year styrene butadiene rubber (SBR) lines on 1 March, a company source said in Wednesday.

The company is also targeting for the same line to switch to producing oil-extended SBR 1712, which is a new grade for Hangzhou Zhechen Rubber, between 15 and 20 March.

The two lines of the company’s 100,000 tonne/year SBR plant at Hangzhou, ?xml:namespace>Zhejiang province,have been producing non-oil grade SBR 1502 in February, with the operating rate at about 80% capacity. Supply of non-oil grade SBR 1502 is ample, the source said.

China’s SBR market was said to have softened after the Lunar New Year holiday on the back of weak demand. Falling natural rubber (NR) prices also hit the confidence of most SBR players.

On 27 February, SBR prices were assessed at yuan (CNY) 16,900-17,400/tonne ($2,713-2,793/tonne) for non-oil grade SBR 1502, down by about CNY400/tonne from a week ago, and CNY15,100-15,700/tonne for oil-extended SBR 1712, down by about CNY300/tonne over the same period, according to data from Chemease, an ICIS service in China.

Despite the poor SBR market currently, Hangzhou Zhechen Rubber does not plan to cut the operating rate because of expected rebounds for SBR prices on the back of strong NR and feedstock butadiene (BD) costs, the source said.